NHL makes new offer to players

Toronto, ON – The NHL has made a new CBA proposal to the NHL Players' Association.

Bill Daly, deputy commissioner of the NHL, released the following statement on Friday regarding a new proposal:

"In light of media reports this morning, I can confirm that we delivered to the Union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA late yesterday afternoon. We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time. We are hopeful that once the Union's staff and negotiating committee have had an opportunity to thoroughly review and consider our new proposal, they will share it with the players. We want to be back on the ice as soon as possible."

A player told TSN.ca earlier Friday the offer advanced what was on the table for term limits for player contracts, salary variance and buyouts.

According to the report, details of the new offer include:

- Term limit on player contracts moves to six years from the five years NHL asked in previous offers (seven years if you're re-signing your own player).

- Each team will be allowed one compliance buyout before the 2013-14 season that will not count against the salary cap but will count against the players' share.

- The Make Whole provision stays at $300 million.

The NHLPA has scheduled a 3 p.m. ET conference call to discuss the offer internally. There was no scheduled meeting between the sides set for Friday.

It was reported last Friday that the NHLPA has already voted to give the union the power to file a disclaimer of interest. That decision would have to be made by Jan. 2.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has made it clear that anything less than a 48- game season would not be acceptable. Given that the league has said it is willing to push a season into late June, a 48-game season likely would have to begin around the third week of January, which means a deal would need to be struck by mid-January at the very latest.

The NHL has canceled games through Jan. 14. In total, 50.8 percent of the regular-season schedule has been scrapped.